In the field of police work, it is often necessary to apprehend criminals, vagrants, or other persons. Many times, such persons are of an extremely unsanitary condition. In other situations, the person being apprehended may be bloody and/or carry a contagious disease. Policemen are very concerned about the avoidance of contagious disease during the apprehension of such individuals. In addition, it is often unpleasant to have direct flesh-to-flesh contact with dirty and filthy individuals.
In the course of the apprehension of the criminal, the police officer must use one hand to immobilize such criminal. Typical immobilization occurs when the police officer asks the criminal to face a wall and to place his hands on the wall. During this time the police officer needs to maintain one hand in direct contact with the person so that the person cannot move without the police officer's knowledge. Alternatively, the police officer may have his gun drawn with one hand. It is also necessary that the officer keep his eyes on the person during the entire time that such criminal is immobilized.
It is desirable that officers wear some protection against contagious disease. It is also desirable that the officer be able to don such protection without the need to divert his attention from the criminal. As such, it is very desirable that the police officer be able to place a disposable glove on his hand through a non-visual one-handed operation.
Various U.S. patents have issued that describe disposable glove dispensing apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,293, issued on July 4, 1989, to D. T. McLaughlin, describes a dispensing apparatus for disposable gloves which is a box-like, rectangular enclosure for housing a removably mounted packet containing a plurality of disposable gloves arranged in the packet in closely spaced, planar unfolded condition. The packet of gloves is loaded into the enclosure through a top opening. The gloves are disposed so that they may be removed, one at a time, through the front opening of the enclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,532, issued on Sept. 27, 1988, to M. Stephenson, describes a dispensing system for sterile gloves. In this invention, a multitude of flattened sterile surgical gloves are provided in a roll form. The roll is in a continuous spirally wound impervious backing sheet having uniformly spaced parallel transverse tear lines. The gloves are attached by adhesive to the sheet between the tear lines. The cuff portions are upwardly directed. Structure is associated with the cuff portion to cause the glove to automatically open at the cuff, thereby facilitating insertion of a hand into the glove.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,731, issued on Jan. 24, 1978, to Roy M. Harrigan, discloses a surgical glove package and fixture. The wrist portion of the glove is releasably fastened around a glove ring member, with the hand portion of the glove extending from the ring member. An outer, imperforate, flexible member encloses the surgical glove. The wrist portion of the glove extends through the ring member and is folded over and stretched around the ring member. The outer protective member also extends around the ring member and passes between the stretched wrist portion and the ring member. In this configuration, the user is able to place the glove over a single hand with a one-handed operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,494, issued on May 22, 1979, to Poncy et al., describes a donning system for surgical gloves. In this invention, the cuff of the glove is stretched around a packaging ring so that the glove cuff extends radially back toward the center of the ring. A flexible, transparent liner covers the outside surface of the glove and between the glove cuff and the ring so that the glove cuff holds the liner securely to the ring. The glove is donned and removed from the ring by using the liner to manipulate the glove package. The glove package can also be used with an inflating apparatus which inflates the glove prior to inserting a hand into the inflated glove.
None of these prior art patents is particularly adaptable to police work. Initially, these prior art patents are featured in the medical field, rather than the police field. Additionally, none of the apparatus is adaptable for usage on a belt.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a glove dispensing apparatus that allows the user to attach the glove in a one-handed procedure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a glove dispensing apparatus that is suitable for attachment to the belt of a police officer.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a glove dispenser that allows the user to easily attach the glove without visual observation.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a glove dispenser that is relatively inexpensive, easy to use, and simple to install.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.